It was a cloudless morning in Endsville, unless you count fog as a cloud. It spread like a big grey blanket over the suburbs. Will looked out his bedroom window, and saw nothing but grey, what a way to start school, he thought. Wordlessly he got up and went to have his morning shower. He let the warm water crash onto his skin, it was soothing despite the force in which the water hit his body, he then put on fresh clothes and went downstairs. He took out refrigerated waffles from the fridge and popped them into the toaster, he then turned on the radio to listen to the only good music station he had found. He poured his hot coffee into a mug and put it next to his plate on the table. Incredible he thought, I’m only fourteen and here I am living on my own, in my own apartment, filled with my own furniture and doing things that even some adults can’t do. His waffles popped out of the toaster, he put them on his plate and put the plate on the table. The table was small, he found it out in the ally, it had once been in a two person table in a restaurant, he had cleaned it and put it in his house back when he had first moved in. “I’m even living on a pay check”, he said aloud as he sat down to eat his breakfast. That wasn’t exactly true, he got a check every week in the mail that his parents had supposedly sent him, enough to pay for his living expenses and a little to spend on himself. He hadn’t even seen his parents in several months, not since they sent him to Endsville. He didn’t know why they had sent him to live alone, away from his home and his friends since birth, all he knew was that it had been on short notice and they had not come with him, the said that it was for his own safety. He grumbled to himself as he put his plate, knife and fork in the dishwasher, why was he so upset about it, he was living every teenagers dream, living on his own, no one to boss him around, getting a check without having to do anything for it, and him being able to do what he wanted. There was more to it then that of course, things that weren’t in a every teenagers dream. But on top of all that he also was an adult, by law, somehow before they sent him away his parents had gotten some legal documents signed that granted him majority status, or an adult by law. So why was he upset, because he’d been dragged away from his home of Winnipeg Manitoba Canada to a city he had never even heard of before, away from his family and friends. On top of all that he didn’t even know if his parents were alive, the checks he got had no return address.

He looked at his watch, 7:50, he picked up his backpack, which he had prepared yesterday and looped it over his shoulders. After a quick check to make sure all was well in his apartment he closed the door and locked it. Will walked down the street to the house of his landlady, it was Monday, a.k.a rent day, and he was going to deliver his rent money in person as was his custom. He arrived at her house and knocked on the door, no answer, he shrugged and slipped the money in through the mail slot and walked off. He then resumed his walk to the bus stop, he hoped that he would find Billy there, he had enjoyed his company all last week despite his stupidity. Will had many adventures during the seemingly short week, some adventures he could have done without, but overall he had a good experience considering how much he had learned about the underworld. Sure enough standing at the bus stop was Billy, and he also noticed the blonde horns of Mandy on Billy’s right, Mandy had been tyrannical, resourceful, brave, and intimidating. Despite her being mean and grouchy, she had been more entertaining then frightening.

“Hey Will,” Billy called.

Will walked up to them, Mandy turned her back to him, Will only grinned. “She knows she likes me” he told himself. He stood beside Billy, “Soooo what time does the bus usually get here?” he asked Billy

“After we do” Billy said

Without skipping a beat Will turned to Mandy, “hey Mandy you know what time the bus gets here?”

“Sit and find out for yourself,”she growled

Will was not surprised by her answer or the way she said it, but before he could make any smart aleck comment, his eyes as though they had minds of their own focused on something past Mandy, down the sidewalk coming at them, 3 people, three girls, now he knew why his eyes had focused on them, it was his hormones again, they were also subconsciously guiding his eyes in what he thought he saw and what they focused on. “Jackpot” he said in a normal voice.

“What kinda pot?” Billy asked as he turned to look where Will was looking. The three girls stopped and stood on Mandy’s right.

They wore matching clothing a short ruffled skirt with a matching shirt that was slightly baggy with short white sleeves. The only difference was the colour, the furthest one dark green, the one next to Mandy was sky blue, and the middle one pink.

“Hi,” Will and Billy said together

The pink and blue girls turned “Hi,” they replied cheerfully. The green girl however didn’t even look in their direction, she looked about as cheery as a funnel cloud in a trailer park.

Will sized her up: she was the same height as the others but was “built” differently. She had a rougher appearance then the others, she stronger build in her upper body, in more ways then one he noted. Her face had a little less baby fat then Mandy’s but it still had a rough angular beauty, she also had black shiny hair. Hmm, Will thought now she might be nice to get to know....

“What are you staring at!?”

Will’s train of thought left dreamland and arrived back at reality as he noticed a closed fist two centimeters from his nose. He looked up into dark green eye’s that were burning with intense fury, but rather then a look of fear, he had a look of amusement. He smiled and for a fraction of a second he got a look of surprise in her eyes.

“What are you smiling about?” she demanded with a slight growl in her voice.

“Ahem” the pink girl interrupted, “Introductions, I’m Blossom”, she gestured to the blonde blue girl, “Bubbles”, she looked at Will with a smirk “and you’ve already met Buttercup, where all sisters.”

“Buttercup”, Will echoed “Nice name.” that name seemed to nice and innocent, this girl looked more like a pound cake.(A Buttercup is also a desert treat)

“I’m Billy, this is Mandy and the soon to be dead guy is Will”,with nervousness he watched the drama before him unfold.

“Wipe that smile off your face” Buttercup hissed

“Believe me I’m trying”Will said as matter-of-factly as he could muster.

“You have till the count of three” she growled, “one.”

Will’s mind raced as he tried to think of a way out of the situation he was in.

“Two” Buttercup grabbed him by his shirt collar and pulled him closer, and she pulled back her right fist.

Finally Will had an Idea, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a paper bag, and just before Buttercup reached three he slipped it over his head. He couldn’t see Buttercup’s face through the paper bag but he sure wished he could have.

Billy fell to the ground roaring with laughter, Blossom and Bubbles giggled. Buttercup however was not amused, she shoved will into the bus stop sign, there was a loud clang as the back of his head collided with the pole. Silence fell as he collapsed onto the ground, but Will simply removed the bag and got up, without looking like he had any regrets (which he didn’t).

“So how old are you?” Will asked Blossom

“Fourteen” she replied

“Huh, us too.”

“Wait a minute” Mandy said.

Those were the first words she’d said all day.

“Billy told me that you said you were thirteen.”

“I did, oh, yeah, well you see I just turned fourteen this summer and that was the first time someone has asked me my age since then, so I kinda forgot that I was fourteen” he replied sheepishly.

“Well then it’s no wonder you and Billy get along so well”, she looked at Billy who was lying on his back looking up at the cloudless sky with fascination. She looked back at Will, “Billy told you he was thirteen right.”

“Uh, yeah but, how did you know that?”

“Please, I’ve known him for long enough to know how he doesn’t think. The thing is that he knows he’s fourteen, he just can’t count that high yet.”

They heard a horn, everyone looked and saw the bus approaching them, Will looked at his watch 8:20. The bus stopped right in front of him and opened the door, but before he could step inside he was slammed once again into the bus stop sign. Will looked up to see Buttercup just boarding the Bus. Billy came and helped Will to his feet. “Ya’ know”, he told Billy “I think she likes me.”

“Really”, Billy said confused, “it looks more like she hates you.”

“Oh nonononono Billy, you misunderstand”, Will told him as they boarded the bus. The bus was a newer one it still had that new smell, the seats were a forest green and the inside walls were a metallic grey. Billy and Will sat in the emergency exit seat on the driver’s side and Will explained. “You see Billy, back in the stone age when a girl became interested in a guy she needed to find out how tough and manly they were so they would punch them hit them and abuse them in a whole multitude of ways to test them. Eventually through the ages this became a way of girls to show their affection.

“So your saying she’s checking you out?”,Billy asked

“Could be Billy”

“Lucky” Billy sulked

The bus started moving, Blossom and Bubbles were sitting together across the isle from Will and Billy, Mandy sat behind the boys just to keep an eye on them, “and to hit Billy when he did something stupid” Will noted. He turned to Blossom and Bubbles he sized them up: Bubbles had blonde hair tied in pigtails and bright blue eyes, her face was as soft as could be imagined, she seemed to be the most innocent of the three, like Buttercup’s opposite, she was fuller in the hips then Buttercup too judging by how much more her skirt flared out , interesting. Blossom seemed like the median between the other two, everything on her seemed to have grown at the same rate making her perfectly proportioned, she did however have longer sexier legs then the others, interesting, good variety in this family. Finally Will said “so, you new around here?”

Blossom turned “yeah, just moved”

“Me to”

“Well, it’s nice to know that we wont be the only new kids on the block”
Will nodded “so you excited about our first day of high school?”

“Oh yes”, Bubbles said excitedly “I can’t wait, we’ll make new friends, learn new things, play new games, and have all kinds of wonderful memories when it’s over.

Will cringed as she talked, her voice was high pitched and it hit one of those frequencies that made his entire ear rattle, it sounded to him like a broken harpsichord on steroids.

“I feel the same way” Billy told her

Bubbles smiled, and Will saw possibility as he looked between her and Billy. “Look” she cried. Will shuddered and everyone else except Mandy looked ahead. “It’s our new school,” Bubbles yelled excitedly

“Sit down and keep quiet” the driver scolded

Blossom looked at Bubbles as she sat back down still as excited as ever, she then looked at Buttercup sitting in the front seat on the passenger side. She sat cross legged staring at the floor, deep in thought, Blossom had a good idea of what, or rather who she was thinking about. The bus finally stopped at the walkway which lead directly into the schools front entrance, everyone got off the bus, Buttercup walked off sulking Bubbles skipped happily along, Will and Billy talked as they walked and Mandy walked with a perfect upright posture, her eyes focused on Billy and Will. Blossom then looked in front of her, the school had three levels, it was made of bricks that were a dark red, the words Endsville High School were printed in a dark blue. She made her way to the doors, steadied herself and finally opened the door to a new stage in her life.